Patients
by Detective-Inspector-Me
Summary: Chuck Hansen is a walking time bomb. He goes off periodically, and I'm always the one who has to clean up after him. But is there more to him than everyone sees?
1. Chapter 1

The word enemy has only one use in this world. In the dictionary, it now appears only under Kaiju. This is why Ella would never refer to Chuck Hansen as an 'enemy'. Nemesis definitely, but not her enemy. She found herself once again sitting on the edge of her bed, shaking in anger after yet again, after another fight with the ranger. Why did he get to her so much?

_'Hello Ella.' Hannah said as Ella deposited her bag and slipped into her coat._

_'Hi Hannah, any new patients?' Ella prayed the answer was no. As the only doctor currently in the facility, she had enough paperwork to do without having to deal with sick people._

_'Only one.' said Hannah, but with a certain fear in her voice, which automatically set off Ella's bat signals._

_'And?' Ella said, standing perfectly still in a bid not to frighten the answer out of her._

_'You have to promise you won't yell.' Hannah said, now talking quickly._

_'Fine, I promise. What is it?' Ella said, now growing impatient._

_'Hansen.' That one word caused Ella to snatch the file off the desk and she felt her whole body tense. Ugh. She hated Chuck Hansen, he was a bully and an ass and a thousand other things that Ella didn't have the energy to list._

_She opened the file and read down quickly._

_'If I'm not out in 10 minutes. You might need to pull my fist out of his smug face.' Hannah smiled in a way that showed she was hoping it was a joke, but wasn't entirely sure it wouldn't happen._

_Ella walked into the examination room, staring all the time at the file and not looking at the face of her patient. She walked to him slowly, she wanted him in pain for as long as possible. After she'd read every word on the page three times she finally met Chuck's gaze._

_'What the hell did you do?' she asked._

_'I got into a fight. You think this is bad, you should see the other guy.'_

_'Well I assumed you got into a fight wise ass, what I'm asking is, do you think you have internal bleeding? Because, if you do, my work here's done and you can get your smug face out of my examination room.'_

_'Geez,' Chuck replied, holding up one hand in mock surrender, 'what's got you so wound up?'_

_Ella assumed it was his other arm that was injured and so began to roll up his sleeve, revealing an open cut on his arm. 'Who were you fighting?' Ella asked, ignoring his previous question._

_'Um.' Chuck replied._

_'For God sake, just tell me! I need to write it down, file it away, and never look or think about it again.'_

_'Becket.' He said. _

_'I should have guessed.' Ella replied, clicking her pen and scribbling down the name. Then she prepared some antiseptic and placed it on Chucks arm. She enjoyed the look of agony that crossed his face so much that she wanted to press harder._

_'Oh, I'm sorry,' Ella said, with mock sympathy, 'does that hurt.'_

_'What, that?' Chuck said looking at his arm, 'nah, I was just picturing you in bed with me, it ain't a pretty thought.'_

_Ella pushed his arm and Chuck let out a small, girly scream._


	2. Chapter 2

Chuck Hansen wasn't the kind of man who let women get under his skin. He loved being chased, and if she wasn't chasing him, she was stupid.

The only problem was, Ella wasn't stupid. She was one of the smartest people in the program and she didn't like him. He hated that today of all days he was thinking about this, he should be thinking only of her. He missed her, and if he didn't think about her today. He could very easily stop thinking about her altogether. He didn't want that. His mum deserved to be remembered.

After managing to calm herself down enough to get into and lie down in bed. There was a knock at the door, and a mechanic ran in saying she had to come quickly. There'd been an accident.

Ella jumped from her bed and hurried after the man. She found herself in the cafeteria which appeared to have been transformed into a bar, expressly designed for happy hour.

She walked to a table at the back and saw Chuck lying on the table with his hand elevated above his head.

'What's happened now Chuck?' Ella asked, impatiently.

'I... had a…. accident.' His words were slow and sloppy, he'd clearly been drinking. Ella turned back to the man who'd led her here.

'What happened?'

'He was ranting on and on about how he 'had to remember' and was making gestures tapping an empty beer bottle of his hand. He got carried away, smashed it, and has glass stuck in his hand.'

Ella moved closer to Chuck and examined his hand. He appeared to have several cuts across his palm each of which had microscopic shards of glass in.

After she had guided Chuck back to the medical centre, a task which was made ten times harder due to the fact he was completely intoxicated and had to be held up, she helped him into a chair and set him down, with a little more force than was necessary.

'Hold out your hand.' She said, wanting to get him out of her sight as quickly as possible. She grabbed a cloth and hastily threw on some antiseptic, then pulled his fingers to the skin was taught and lightly dabbed the cut, he whined a little which made it all the more fun. As she was extracting the glass shards he began muttering something under his breath.

'What is it now?' she asked, trying to show her exasperation in her voice.

'I have to remember.' He said.

'Yes, so you keep saying? Remember what? The name of the girl you slept with last night perhaps?' Ella looked up and was surprised to see hurt in his eyes, she held his gaze.

'My mum.' He slurred, 'I have to remember my mum.' Ella almost dropped the glass shard back into his hand. She knew his mum had died, it was in his psychological report that all rangers had, but the analysis had said he was coping well. She almost (and I must put emphasis on the almost) felt guilty about how she treated him.

'You will remember her, if you want to.' Ella replied, and began attempting to recover the final piece of glass.

'I do want to,' he said, 'but I can't think about her, when I keep getting you stuck in my head.' Ella dropped the tweezers on the tray and began fiddling about with some bandage and a safety pin.

'What are you talking about Hansen?' There was no response, so Ella looked up, wondering if he'd passed out from the combination of beer and blood loss.

'I don't know.' He said, 'but for some reason, I really wish you liked me.'

That was it. Then he passed out and she was sure he wouldn't remember in the morning.

**Recently, I found a pile of unfinished fics on my computer and decided to upload them as is. I hope to continue all of them, but I want to know which is most popular... please review if you want me to continue this one!**


	3. Chapter 3

After she had him deposited safely in his bed, Ella returned to the medical wing to write up all his forms, which didn't take too long since all his information was on record, and Ella had written his details so frequently they seemed to be permanently ingrained on her brain.

Once she was finished, she sat in the chair for a while pondering what he had said. IT could've been a joke. He could've easily been kidding, trying to see how she'd react. She realised there were only two people who would know if he was telling the truth, one of them was passed out in bed, but the other was Herc Hansen.

Soon after arriving in Hong Kong, Ella had formed a working relationship with Herc, mainly because his son spent every other day in the emergency room. She knew that today Herc would be working on the Jager, overseeing the repairs after their latest battle. With that in mind, she began to make her way to the Shatterdome.

When she was about half way there, she began to think about how on earth she was going to explain any of this to Herc.

_Hey Herc, your son got drunk again tonight and hurt his hand… oh, by the way I think he has a crush on me._

Nope, that wouldn't work. She decided as she approached Striker that she'd just play it by ear and hope it fell into the conversation… somehow.

'Hey Herc!' she called,

'Ella, what has he done now?' Herc sounded tired, and she once again began to question whether or not to bring it up.

'Oh, cut his hand and shut his lights out all in the name of alcohol.'

'I worried this might happen today.' Herc says, with sadness in his voice. It's only then that Ella begins to notice the bags under his eyes.

'You haven't slept.' She points out.

'Nope, how could I. Not today.' Ella moves closer to Herc and wraps him in a hug.

'Herc,' she says, deciding it's best just to go for it, 'does Chuck have a crush on me?'

Ella pulls away to look Herc in the eye, she can't help but notice the smirk on his face.

'A crush? No. Why do you ask?'

'Oh nothing,' Ella says feeling stupid, not something she's used to, 'he just said something tonight that made me wonder.'

'He doesn't have a crush on you,' Herc continues, 'it's more than that.'

'More than that?' Ella sounds a little exasperated, but she can't ignore the butterflies in her chest.

'I've seen how he thinks about other girls, something with you is different. I think he fell for you. Hard.'


	4. Chapter 4

Ella returned to her room and lay down on the bed. Chuck 'fell for' her? No, Herc has to be mistaken. Chuck is so low he couldn't fall if he wanted to. There's no way he likes her, he hates her and she hates him, that's how they work best.

After hours of contemplation Ella comes to a decision. 'One day,' she mutters, 'I'm going to think about it for one day.'

Ella retreats to the cafeteria, she doesn't have to be at work for another few hours, but she cant sit alone with her thoughts for another minute. She gets a cup of coffee and a piece of surplus toast and sits at the back of the hall. Just as she takes her first sip, who appears but the man himself.

He gets his food and stops, catching her eye before coming towards her. At first Ella panics, but then realises this is the perfect opportunity to see if Herc was right.

'You mind if I sit?' Chuck asks, Ella gives him points for politeness.

'Sure.' Ella responds, trying to acts like everything's normal. The last thing she needs is him laughing at her for thinking he likes her.

Ella watches as Chuck lifts his fork and fumbles with his knife. The cut on his hand wasn't bad, bur sue to his job Ella wrapped it well to ensure it healed quickly. She hadn't thought about his ability to hold a fork. After watching for a few minutes, she starts to laugh. At first Chuck looks angry, but when he looks up at her he bursts out laughing too.

'You just going to laugh or do you feel like helping me?' Ella continues laughing as she slides hos tray across the table and cuts up hos meat into bite sized pieces. She returns hos tray and he grabs the fork in his good hand before stabbing into his food.

'You feeling better this morning?' Ella asks,

'Yeah, although I'm having trouble remembering what happened last night.'

'You went to a bar, broke a glass and then I patched you up and took you to bed.' Chuck raises an eyebrow, and Ella corrects 'I took you to your bed before returning to the medical wing to fill out a mass of paperwork.

'Ah,' Chuck responds, 'thanks.' Ella is taken aback this is the first time Chuck has ever thanked her and she's gotten him out of stickier situations. Maybe Herc was right.

Just then, a body plops down beside Chuck and Ella looks over. Its a girl, a mechanic she recognises from the Crimson Typhoon crew. She has long dark hair and big brown eyes, she looks like a doll.

'Hi Chuckie,' she says before leaning over and kissing Chuck. Ella feels like she just had a dagger to the chest. Of course Chuck doesn't like her. He's Chuck! Ella demolishes the rest of her food and quickly excuses herself from the table, just as the girl begins feeding Chuck his lunch.

Ella returns to her room that evening and thinks about her day. Sadly, there were no new accidents today and so she had plenty of Tim to feel embarrassed about this morning. Every time she pictures them together she feels something in the pit of her stomach. She didn't like Chuck before, what's changed? She doesn't know what's different, but she doesn't think she likes him. That can't be it.

Ella is awoken from her thoughts by the sound of the alarm the words 'Kaiju in the Breach' echoes through her room and she bolts upright. She thinks of Chuck and realises this mat be her last chance to figure out what she thinks of him. She bursts through the door and runs towards the Shatterdome. She spots him about to get of the elevator, and calls to him.

'Chuck!' She yells, luckily loud enough for him to hear her.

'What?' He responds, sounding anxious, clearly wanting to Benin the Jaegar as quickly as possible.

'I just have to run a quick test.' She replies matter-of-factly as she approaches.

'Tests?' He asks, 'You can't run tests now! I have to be in a Jaegar 5 minutes ago. I don't have time to-' Chuck is stopped abruptly as Ella's lips crash into his. At first he's stunned, but quickly he realises this is exactly what he wanted, he parts her lips with his tongue and deepens the kiss, a move he comes to regret as she pulls away.

'Well?' He asks, trying to catch his breath, 'what are the results?'

'Inconclusive.' She responds, 'You'll have to come back and find out.' Ella takes a step away and smiles up at Chuck. He reciprocates and mutters 'okay' before turning and climbing into the elevator.

Ella goes to the control room, she's always required to be there incase medical advice is needed. She keeps thinking about the kiss and realises she does like Chuck, and now she's confident he likes her back. Once he gets back, they're going to have some fun.

The lights go dead and Ella is pulled back to reality.

'What happened?' Ella asks, and she's informed that the Kaiju sent out an electrical signal which has shorted Striker Eureka and rendered her useless. Ella feels her heatrate quicken as Gipsy os readied for combat. She watches the feed from Gipsy intently. At first she's not sure what is happening but eventually she's able to make out the two small figures of Herc and Chuck standing on top of Striker shooting flares at the Kaiju. It is then that Ella thinks her heart stops.

Once the battle is over, Ella goes to her room and lies on the bed facing the wall. He nearly died. She's there for a matter of minutes before she's called to fix up Herc and his broken arm. She doesn't move right away, for once she wants him in pain. There's another knock at the door and she groans as Chuck comes in.

He lies down beside her and tries to wrap his arms around her, but instead she gets up off the bed and puts on her medical jacket.

'What now?' He asks, sounding tired, this drives Ella over the edge.

'What now!' She screams, 'you nearly died Chuck!'

'But I didn't!' He yells back,

'You took a stupid risk that you didn't have to and it almost killed you, bur that's not even the worst part it was a matter of minutes since our kiss and you didn't even think about what would happen to me.' Chuck doesn't respond and so Ella leaves to fix up his father.


	5. Chapter 5

In the medical wing, Herc is sitting on the bed clearly in pain, she regrets having left him so long.

'Hey Herc.' She says as she examines his arm,

'Hey yourself.' Then silence. 'What's wrong?' Herc asks after a moment,

'Oh, just your son.'

'What?' Herc asks, gritting his teeth as I attempt to bandage his arm

'It was bad enough when he just got himself hurt, bit now he's hurting you.'

'Again, what?' Herc is beginning to sou genuinely worried, which sets Ella in edge.

'Flares. The stupidest plan in the world, especially with a dad with a broken arm and a girl waiting for him to come home-'

'Ella,' Herc interrupts, 'it was my idea.

'What?' Now it's Ella's turn to be confused.

'It was my idea to shoot the flares and I know it was stupid. I just felt so helpless, and Chuck didn't have a better plan. I'm sorry, ot was my mistake and I promise it wont happen again.'

Ella waits a moment before slapping Herc gently across the cheek, 'Don't ever let it happen again.'

After Herc is well patched up and his cheek is back to a regular colour, Ella goes to Chucks room. She knocks on the door, bit there's nor response. She checks everywhere the cafeteria, the Shatterdome, everywhere.

Eventually she decided that he's gone to cool off and he'll appear at some point, so she goes back to her room. When she gets inside, there he is perched on her bed clasping his hands.

When she enters he springs up and walks towards her, still wearing his Jaegar suit.

'I'm sorry.' He says, 'You're right it was-' Ella wraps him Alina hug causing him to stop talking,

'Your dad explained everything, I thought it was your idea.'

'Why, after I finally got you, would I risk wasting the opportunity?' Ella smiles and presses her lips to his.

'Go get changed, and I'll see you in 10 minutes.'

'Okay.' Chuck says, and he leaves with a smile plastered across his face.

On the way back to his room, Chuck is called into a meeting to discuss what happened in the Jaegar, and look at the new plan. It's hours before he's out but he gets changed quickly, desperate to see Ella. Just as he buckles his belt, the alarm goes off.

'That's not fair!' Chuck yells, and bursts through his door. He heads towards Ella's room at breakneck speeds and meets her in the corridor. 'Come on.' He snaps and drags her back to her bedroom.

He pins her to the door and kisses her passionately, as she wraps her legs around his waist. He supports her and carries her to the bed, laying her down that he's leaning over her.

'What's going on?' She asks as he removes her shirt,

'There's no way I'm going to die without having you.'

'Fair enough.' She says and her lips mashed against his once more.

A mere fifteen minutes later Ella had to force Chuck out the door.

'You have to go!' She said,

'Why?' Chuck whined,

'Because you have to go be a hero.' Ella replied matter-of-factly,

'Oh,' Chuck moaned, 'someone else can do it.' He tried to kiss her again but she put a hand on his chest a d forced him down the steps from her room. He gave her a wave and began to walk away with a smug smile on his face. Just as he reached the end of the corridor, Ella screamed after him and he turned, thinking something was wrong. She was running towards him and when she reached him she jumped up and wrapped herself around him kissing him gently.

'You're not going to die.' She kissed him again, 'Say it. Say I'm not going to die.'

'I'm not going to die.' Chuck replied, hoping he could keep that promise.

'Good,' she said as she detached herself from him, 'just checking.' And with that she turned to walk back to her room.


	6. Chapter 6

Once the Jaegers were deployed, Ella took up her post in the control room. She watched as they descended to the breach and listened to the radios for any signs of danger.

'Ella,' Tendo yelled, 'Chuck wants to talk to you.'

'Why? What's wrong?'

'They have to detonate the device above the breach, it's jammed. It's a suicide mission.'

Ella felt her throat close over as she walked to the microphone, but this was quickly replaced by anger, 'You had better be kidding me Hansen!' She yelled.

'Sorry Elle, I'm not going to be able to keep my promise.' Hearing him say it made Ella burst into tears,

'Don't you dare die Chuck, I'm serious. If you die I'll never forgive you.' Ella wanted to say more, but couldn't get the words out,

'Ella?' Chuck asked,

'Yeah,' Ella choked

'I love you.' Ella fave a sad laugh and replied,

'I love you too.'

That was the last words she ever said to him.

Once the breach was closed, Ella and Herc escaped the celebrations and retreated to his room. He had a bottle of scotch and Ella curled up with Max on the bed while he drank in the chair.

'He loved you.' Ella muttered, already exhausted by her grief,

'He loved you more.' Herc replied, hos words slurring slightly from the scotch.

'We only had one day.' Ella continued, 'He couldn't have loved me.'

'Honey,' Herc continues, 'he loved you long before you even liked him.'

This set Ella off again and a fresh set of tears soaked the pillow, Herc came over to the bed and wrapped his good arm around her whist resting his sling on Max's back.

How can he really be gone.

The next day, the Shatterdome was gradually being packed up, with both Jaegers gone there wasn't a lot to do, but the medical wing required more work Tha most. Herc said he'd help Ella, they both could use the distraction. Once everything was ready, it was a matter of checking plane and copter times.

As the Marshal, Herc was given a helicopter to take him home whenever he was ready, but he seemed reluctant to leave.

As the compound cleared out, Ella decided the time had come to quiz him on it,

'Why are you still here Herc?' She asked,

'I'm not leaving until I'm sure you're okay.' He sounded genuinely worried, causing Ella to smile.

'Im fine Herc, I just need to figure out where I'm going and then I'm going to forget all about this past week. I'll be okay.'

'Well I won't.' Herc said, causing Ella to look at him.

'You're the only other living person who cared about Chuck, promise me you wont try to forget him. He deserves to be remembered.'

Ella felt a fresh batch of tears coming on and so she mumbled, 'Okay.' and left the medical bay.

That night, Ella lay in bed and tried to think of where she wanted to go. She'd never had a place to call home before, and she couldn't think of anywhere she wanted to go and start over. The next day, she saw Herc packing to leave and it hit her. Herc was her only friend. Herc was the only person she'd ever spoken to about anything more than which shoes to wear. He was the only living person she wanted to be around and so she decided. she was going to Sydney.

Herc was overjoyed when he heard the news, he cared a lot about Ella after drifting so often with Chuck and had come to see her as a friend. He knew they needed each other now more than ever, they would never get over this on their own.

Once she decided to leave, it was a fast process. She loaded her stuff into the helicopter and they were off.

In the helicopter, Herc thought about a conversation he'd had with Raleigh, Raleigh had said he couldn't hear Yancy in his head anymore once he was gone. But Herc still felt Chuck there.

Ella explained that that was normal, Herc wasn't connected to Chuck when he died and so he hadn't experienced the sudden silence like Raleigh.

The rest of the flight was past in something close to silence and when they arrived in Sydney, Herc got taxi.

'Ella,' Herc began, but then stopped himself.

'What?' She prompted

'Dp you have somewhere to stay?' He asked,

'Not yet, but I'm working on it.'

'Come on,' he said, lifting her nag into the car, 'You're staying with me until you find a place.'

'Thanks Herc.' Ella said and jumped into the back seat.

A moment later Herc squeezed on beside her and they set off. When they arrived at the house, the front doorstep was covered on flowers from fans of Chuck and Striker, Herc started to cry again and so Ella got him inside as quickly as possible.

Inside the house was filled with pictures of Chuck, and Ella felt him around every corner. It was a comfort in a way, but it also made her miss him more.

That night, Herc offered Ella Chucks room and she accepted, she wanted to be around him at least one more time. The second she climbed into his bed she could smell him, even though it had been weeks since he'd been here. She let the tears take het and eventually cried herself to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

What seemed like seconds later, but must have been a few hours she heard the door open and saw Herc's figure in the doorframe. She pretend to still be asleep, wondering if he would try to wake her, she didn't want to embarrass him of he thought better of this decision.

He moved into the room and shut the door. Ella heard a buckle being undone and fabric hitting the floor. Just as she wondered what was happening, he pulled back the covers and sat down top of her. Simultaneously they screamed 'What the hell!'

He jumped up and Ella turned on the bedside lamp. She gasped as she looked at the man in the room. It wasn't Herc. It was him.

'Chuck?' She whispered, assuming she was dreaming,

'Ella!' He replied and came around the bed until he was standing a few inches away from her, 'You're here." He said and lifted a hand to brush the hair off her face. Ella's breath caught as she thought of the moment she had to wake up. 'I thought I lost you.' Chuck said, moving his hand to the back of her head and pulling her towards him.

'I miss you.' Ella whispers,

'Why?' Chuck asks, confused, 'I'm right here.'

Chuck takes Ella's hand and pulls her back to the bed, she rests her back against his chest and he links an arm under her neck.

'You won't be here in the morning,' Ella whispers,

'Of course I will.' Chuck replies.

The next morning Ella feels the loss afresh when Chuck isn't in the beside her. She takes a moment to compose herself, she knew it had to be a dream, bur she held out hope that he was really here. Ella puts, on one of Chucks old hoodies over her pyjamas and makes her way to the kitchen. She spots Herc from the doorway and notices the smile that's plastered across his face. Ella walks further into the room and is shocked again to see Chuck sitting at the other side of the table.

'Good morning.' Chuck says, a smile taking over his face when he sees her.

'You're not here,' Ella says,

'What are you talking about?' Chuck still sounds confused,

'How could you possibly be really here. You're dead.'

It is then that Chuck stands from the table and explains everything. After turning off the radio, Pentecost inquired about Ella and after a short discussion put him in a pod. The explosion had caused Chuck to be projected outside of the radar zone, and he was lost on the pandemonium. Eventually he was found by one of the clear up teams, but by that time everyone had gone home. He had come home to see his Dad and planned to look for Ella in the States. When he was finished he looked down at Ella who had tears in her eyes, he wiped them away with his thumb and kissed her. It was that kiss that confirmed it for Ella. He was alive. He was here. He was hers.


End file.
